Improvement in railway-carriages



N. F. BRYANT. Changeable-Gage Trukl Patented Aug. 18, 1863.-

N .PI'ERS, PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHEH. WASHINGTON. D. l?y

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

NAB UM FRANKLIN BRYANT, OF EAST BOSTON, `MASSAGHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN RAILWAY-CARRIAGES.

Specification forming part 'of Letters Patent No. 39,545. dated August18, 1863.

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I; NAHUM FRANKLIN BRYANLa resident 0f East- Boston. `ofthe county of Suffolk and State of. Massachusetts, have madeV a new anduseful invention, the design or purpose of which is to enable arailway-carriage to be run on either of two or more tracks of differentgages, aswell as from one to and upon the other as occasion may require;and I do hereby declare the same to be fully described in the followingspecification and represented in the accompanying drawings, making partthereof.

Ot' such drawings, Figurelis a top view of a railway-car truck and threetracks of different gages having my vinvention applied to them. Fig. 2is a top view of the carriage. Fig. 3 is a vertical and longitudinalsection of it. Fig. 4 is a transverse section taken through two of itswheels and thi-ir axles. Fig. 5 is a horizontal section taken throughthe four wheels and their axles.

In the drawings, A A and B B are two railways or tracks of differentgages, one-viz., that marked B B-being of a broader gage or greaterdistance between its rails than the other, or that marked A A. l Onetrack is arranged in advance of the other, andthey are connected by twolines of changing-rails, or what may be termed a changing-track,77 suchbeing marked C C in Fig. 1. Each of the rails C leads from one of therails A to one of the rails B, as shown in the said tigure. Other rails,or atrack, B B, of broader gage, are also represented in advance of therails or track B B, the two tracks B B B B being connected by a set ofdivergent or changing-rails, C C. Parallel,or about so, to each of thechanging rails, and at a distance from it a little greater than thethickness of the wheel-flange, is a flange-guide rail, D. There is alsobetween the two angeguide rails two other or chockrails, E E, and thereare also two more of such chock-rails, F F, which are arranged outsideand alongside of each two changingrails. Each of the chock-rails E F hasan inclined plane or slope, a, at each end of it. The insidechock-rails, E E, have an elevation different from that of the outsidechock-rails, those between one set of the changing-rails being higherthan their fellow chock-rails that are outside of such `changing-rails,while the inside chock-rails of the other set of changingrails are lowerthan their fellows or those outside of their changing-rails, the sainebeing asshown in Fig. 6, which is a longitudinal section of the tracksand the truck or carriage. This latter7 which is shown at G, has fourwheels, b b b b, each of which has a separate axle, c, whose twojournals, d d, rest respectively in sliding boxes e e, so adapted to thecarriage frame as to be incapable of revolving therein, but capable ofsliding endlwise therein, and in directions longitudinally of the axles.At each end of each axle there is a box or housing, f', which is boltedor fastened to the carriage-frame, stands vertically, and is open atbottom. Each of the boxes contains what I term a chock,77 it beingrepresented at H in Figs. 4 and 5. This chock is also shown in Figs. 7,8, 9, and 1() as detached from its box, Fig. 7 being an inside elevationof such chock; Fig. 8, an outside elevation of it 5 Fig. 9,`a verticalsection of it, and Fig. l0 an edge view of it. It slides freely invertical directions within its box, and at its lower part carries afriction roller or wheel, g, which is intended to run on one ofthelifter or chock rails. A small stud, h, (see Fig. 1l, which is avertical section of a box, f, and its chock H,) extending from the innerside of the box,

serves to prevent the chock from falling out of the box when the saidchock may have attained its lowermost position therein. Each chock hastwo recesses, i k, for the axle-box to extend into, one of theserecesses opening out of the other. They correspond in width, althoughone is longer than the other. They open out of opposite sides of thechock.

In Figs. 3 and 4, n n are projections which extend down the chock-boxesf f f f, and are' for the purpose of maintaining the truck in its trueposition over the rails or prevent it from swaying laterally whilepassing over the changing-rails. This the projections n n ac complish bymeans of the inner chock-rails, which, with the projections, keep thetruck in its proper position.

l am aware of the nature of the invention described in Letters Patent No. 317 ,839. In this latter invention the wheels have applied to them alocking mechanism to be operated by manual power. In myinvention,however, the locking mechanism-viz., the checks-is operated bythe chock-rails, and therefore I have an automatic wheel relieving andlocking mechanism, acting` in connection with the Wheel-changin g railsand their two tracks of different gages. The nature of my said in`vention is therefore an automatic combination consisting of thechock-rails or their mechanical equivalent, (applied to the roadway,)the chocks (or their mechanical equivalent) applied to the truck-frameand its wheels, the two tracks of different gages andV their connectionor wheel changing track, or the same and the ange-guide rails thereof",as specified.

The operation of the invention is such that just fprevious to thepassage of the truck upon the changingrails the chocks will be soelevated or brought into such positions as will free the axle-boxes ofthe wheels in a manner to enable the Wheels to be acted on or movedendwise or laterally by the changingrails or the flange-rails. Inpassing off the chock-rails the chocks, by their gravitatin g powerfwillbe caused to assume such position as will estop the wheels from furtherlateralv motion and retain them in their proper positions with respectto the rails of the track on which they may be received.

I do not claim as my invention the subject or subjects of the patenthereinbefore mentioned; but

What I do claim isrJhe automatic combination consisting not only of thechock-rails (or their mechanica-1 equivalents, applied to the roadway)and the chocks (or their mechanical equivalents) applied to thetruck-frame and its wheels, but the two tracks of different gages andtheir wheel-changing track, or the same and its Harige-guide rails, thewhole vbeing arranged and so as to operate substantially as speciled,and in combination therewith the projections or guides n n, 'for thepurpose specified.

NAHUM FRANKLiN BRYANT.'

Witnesses R. H. EDDY, F. P. HALE, Jr.

